The Infants have been exploring different light sources. They have been seen working at the light cube with sensory bags and building with colourful blocks on the light table. To expand on this, the educators brought in two new light sources. Educator Kiva made a reflection box using CDs. She placed flashlights and puck lights inside and set it on the floor for the infants to explore. Clark crawled over and stuck his head into the box. Then he backed up and pointed into the box while looking at Kiva. “What do you see in there?” Kiva asked. Clark looked again then babbled something. “The light is illuminating some colours in that box.” Kiva observed. Clark picked up a puck light and held it above his head and inspected it. Then he crawled to a different area of the classroom with the light. Katie showed him that if he pushed the light down it would turn on and off. He placed his hands around the sides of the light and used his thumbs to push down, but nothing happened. Then he tried Katie’s technique. When he pushed down and pulled his hand up the light turned off. He looked at Katie and laughed. Clark sat for an extended period of time practicing his new skill. Nathan found the other puck light and took it out of the box. Kiva showed him that he could push the light down. He tried to use one finger, but this was not enough force to turn the light off. When he used his whole hand, the light turned off. Nathan turned to Kiva and smiled, then clapped his hands. “Wow,” Kiva said, “you turned the light off with your hand. Can you turn it back on?” Nathan used the same technique to turn the light back on. He also sat for several minutes and practiced this skill. Each time he accomplished his goal (turning the light on or off) he clapped his hands and looked to an educator for praise. Kiva offered him a flashlight and showed him that he could use one finger to push the button at the top. Nathan turned the flashlight and noticed a light coming out of the bottom. He decided to shine it into the reflection box. “Look at all of the colours reflecting off of the disks,” Kiva said. Theo crawled over and stuck his head into the box. Nathan decided to put the light down and go play somewhere else. Clark came over and picked up the flashlight. At this point, Arlo and Sophie had also gathered around the box with educator Katie. Clark and Katie took turns flashing the light into the box. “I see blue, green and purple when the light is on.” Katie said. A little while later Clark handed his light to Kiva. When she placed the light at a certain angel it made a rainbow on the floor. Clark and Theo started pointing at the floor. Kiva sang the Rainbow Song as Clark tried to grab the colours on the floor. The infants took turns placing their hands on the rainbow. They noticed that this made the colours appear on their bodies. They experimented with different angles and where the rainbow would reflect until it was time for lunch. These materials were available to the children all day and the puck lights are still being used in the classroom. Based on this work, it appears that the infants enjoy working with lights. They also focused on the repetitive motion of pushing the buttons and on the cause and effect of the lights turning on and off. To expand on this interest the educators may offer some more work with light, focusing on these smaller lights. We may also find some materials with buttons to push. We might create a light board or “busy board” with different types of buttons to practice this skill.
